Figures today have revealed Ireland’s economy continued to see growth in the April to June period.

According to the Central Statistics Office, the economy grew by a better than expected 1.6% in the three-month period and this follows a revised 1.9% growth rate in the first quarter.

This represents the first time since 2006 that Ireland’s economy has grown for two consecutive quarters.

Meanwhile, today’s figures shocked analysts who had expected growth of just 0.25%.

Furthermore, the figures surpassed those from Europe’s powerhouses, Germany and France.

The latest figures will be regarded as encouraging for the former “Celtic Tiger” economy which suffered a prolonged recession and was one of the last euro zone nations to emerge from recession.

The economy slipped into recession during the first half of 2008 – becoming the first nation of the euro zone to do so.

The country’s economic turmoil resulted in a bailout package last year worth €85 billion.

However, analysts say the figures suggest the economy is in the early stages of recovering from its property and debt crisis.

Since the credit crunch four years ago, the country’s public finances have been battered by having to prop up the banking sector, as well as the collapse in its property market.

Ireland experienced a property boom in the late 1990s, with multinationals arriving to take advantage of one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the euro zone.

However, the country’s banking system came close to meltdown after the slump in the country’s property market resulted in a fall in the value of investments linked to it.

Several of the country’s banks have been nationalised, while property prices have fallen by more than 50%, in some cases.

Finally, like fellow bailed-out nations Greece and Portugal, Ireland has been forced to introduce tough austerity measures in order to reduce its spiralling budget deficit.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today announced Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) rose to annual rate of 4.5% last month from July’s rate of 4.4%.

However, the figure was in line with analysts’ expectations.

Higher inflation continues to be led by rising food costs but the main reason behind last month’s rise was a 5.1% annual increase in the housing, water, electricity and gas component – which rose the most in more than two years.

Utility companies recently hiked their prices – some by almost 20%.

However, clothing and footwear was also a contributor to higher inflation last month.

UK inflation continues to remain more than double the target of 2% and has been above this level since December 2009 and is expected to remain above target during 2012.

The Bank of England has previously warned that inflation could reach 5% later this year, driven higher by rising energy and food costs but should return to target by 2013.

Meanwhile, Retail Price Inflation (RPI), which includes mortgage costs and is used as the basis for many wage deals, rose to 5.2% in August from 5% in July.

Inflationary pressures are rife throughout the world, particularly in Asia, and many central banks have opted to lift interest rates to combat stubbornly high inflation.

However, the Bank of England last week opted to keep rates at the historic low of 0.5%, suggesting it is reluctant at this stage to lift interest rates as it could be harmful to the economic recovery.

Last month, policymakers Martin Weale and Spencer Dale dropped their call for higher interest rates and joined their fellow Committee members by opting to keep rates low to stimulate the recovery.

The economy appears to be stuttering at present and many experts believe the central bank may re-introduce the quantitative easing (QE) programme – designed to stimulate growth within the economy.

In other news today, the ONS reported that the UK goods trade deficit unexpectedly widened in July.